Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Late Late Mothers Day, and justice....

On Sunday we ran another of our services for boarders at Nelson College, with about 250 in attendance it is quite a lot of fun, especialy because most of them don't wnat to be there. The idea of a captive audience is very appealing. However we are aware to that the worst thing we can do is bang them across the head with a bible - they may be captive but we do not have to torture them...So this Sunday we picked up on the theme of 'Mothers' a week late for mothers day but then I am always a week late for mothers day - sorry mum if you read this- I love you though.So we played some music by typical boys college mums favourite bands - U2 and Boys 2 men, ran a quiz on famous mums and talked about the power of a 'nagging' mum...Apparently Abraham Lincoln said on his mother that her prayers have been with him all his life .- While my mother prayers may not have always followed me certainly her advice has. Though it often seems like she is 'nagging me' and chewing my ear, the fact of the matter is more often than not she is right. In fact the origins of Mother Day can be found in Mother’s 'nagging'. The first Mother’s Day was established in 1914 by US President Woodrow Wilson. Now it wasn’t due to pressure from the Florists' Association; nor by the telephone company or Hallmark cards or any of the other companies that make half their annual takings on Mothers Day. The idea of Mothers' Day was invented by a mother protesting the killing of World War I – a nagging mother in an anti war protest worried about the fate of her son in what seemed like a senseless war.This caring, 'nagging' mum got other mothers to protest, too, and pretty soon Congress gave into the pressure – amazing what a ‘nagging’ mother can do.So in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson dedicated the second Sunday in May as Mothers' Day, It wasn’t just a day to honour Mothers – which is a cool thing to, but a day to honoring their wishes -- that the killing be stopped. Mums can change the world, and they are worth honouring, not just on Mothers day but every day.We followed this by looking at some contemporary 'nagging' mums the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, mums whose plight and struggle were captured in the U2 song Mothers of the Disapeared, a group of mums who 'nag' the government about human rites issues in an attempt to reunite families with their stolen children who were kidnapped for speaking out against a the government. A 'nagging' mum is a very powerful force for making the world right.